Kakira Power Station is a 52 megawatt

bagasse Bagasse ( ) is the dry pulpy fibrous material that remains after crushing sugarcane or sorghum stalks to extract their juice. It is used as a biofuel for the production of heat, energy, and electricity, and in the manufacture of pulp and building ...

-fired thermal power plant in the town of

Kakira Kakira is a town in the Eastern Region of Uganda. It is the location of the International headquarters of the Madhvani Group. Location Kakira is located in Jinja District, approximately east of downtown Jinja on the highway to Iganga. The coord ...

Jinja District Jinja District is a district in the Eastern Region of Uganda. The town of Jinja is the district's main municipal and commercial center. Location Jinja District is bordered by Kamuli District to the north, Luuka District to the east, Mayuge Di ...

in the Eastern Region of Uganda.

Location

The power station is located on the Madhvani Estate, adjacent to Kakira Sugar Works, the flagship of the business conglomerate. This location is approximately , by road, northeast of Jinja, the largest city in the

sub-region A subregion is a part of a larger geographical region or continent. Cardinal directions are commonly used to define subregions. There are many criteria for creating systems of subregions; this article is focusing on the United Nations geoscheme ...

Overview

The power station is owned and operated by Kakira Energy Company, a subsidiary of the

Madhvani Group The Madhvani Group of Companies commonly referred to as the Madhvani Group, is one of the largest conglomerate (company), conglomerates in Uganda. The group has investments in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Middle East, India, ...

. The station is designed and built around the sugar manufacturing plant of

Kakira Sugar Works Kakira Sugar Works Limited, often called Kakira Sugar Works, is a leading sugar manufacturer in Uganda, the third-largest economy in the East African Community. Location The main factories of the company are located in the town of Kakira, in Ji ...

(KSW), the flagship company of the group. The fibrous residue from the process of crushing sugar cane, known as bagasse, is burnt to heat water in boilers and produce steam. The steam is pressurized and used to drive turbines, which then generate electricity. The excess heat is used in the sugar manufacturing process. The power station is capable of producing 52 megawatts of power at maximum capacity. About 16 megawatts (31 percent) of the power generated is used by the factories and businesses of the group located on their business estate at Kakira. The other 36 megawatts (69 percent) of the power generated, is sold to Uganda's national electricity grid. The power station has been operational since 2005, originally with a 6 megawatt generator. In 2006, a new additional 16 megawatt generator was installed and went online in 2007. More equipment added between 2011 and 2013 increased the capacity to 52 megawatts.

Recent developments

The

New Vision The ''New Vision'' is a Ugandan English-language daily newspaper. It was established in its current form in 1986 by the Government of Uganda. It is the flagship newspaper of the state-owned Vision Group, a multimedia conglomerate. Along with ...

newspaper, Uganda's English daily, reported in July 2012 that KSW would increase the electricity output at the power station from 22 megawatts to 52 megawatts by June 2013. That same information was repeated in February 2013, in the

Daily Monitor The ''Daily Monitor'' is an independent daily newspaper in Uganda. Launched in 1992 as ''The Monitor'', it established itself as a leading voice critical of the government and is one of the two largest national newspapers, alongside the state-ow ...

, another Ugandan daily publication. It is expected that 20 megawatts (38.5 percent) of the power generated will be used internally and the remaining 32 megawatts (61.5 percent) will be sold to the national grid. , KSW was in the middle of a US$75 million (about UGX:191 billion) upgrade and expansion. US$30 million (about UGX:76 billion) will be raised through a 10-year corporate bond on the

Uganda Securities Exchange The Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) is the principal stock exchange of Uganda. It was founded in June 1997. The USE is operated under the jurisdiction of Uganda's Capital Markets Authority, which in turn reports to the Bank of Uganda, Uganda's ...

and the rest will be sourced from local banks. When the upgrade was completed in 2017, the cogeneration capacity of the power station was increased from 22 megawatt to 52 megawatts. In October 2014, the station was granted an electricity production license for 20 megawatts by the

Electricity Regulatory Authority The Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) is a government agency that regulates, licenses, and supervises the generation, transmission, distribution, sale, export, and importation of electrical energy in Uganda. Location The offices of the ER ...

. It means that, of the 52 megawatt produced by the power station, 32 megawatts is used internally and 20 megawatts is sold into the national electric grid.

References

External links

Overview of the Madhvani Group Businesses

{{Jinja District Madhvani Group Jinja District Bagasse-fired power stations in Uganda Energy infrastructure completed in 2007 Energy infrastructure completed in 2017 2007 establishments in Uganda Eastern Region, Uganda

Location

Overview

Recent developments

See also

References

External links